I just found the strangest word. 嘘八百 which translates to "full of lies", but the direct translation makes me wonder about it's origin. "800 lies" (lie eight hundred) must come from something special? At least in English, and probably all other languages in the western world, the number would be 1000. We say a thousand thanks, a thousand fold etc. So, why 800?

From http://gogen-allguide.com/u/usohappyaku.html
Apparently it was just a number the peeps of old used to describe "Absolutely loads of". According to the site, there are other phrases that also use 800 in a similar way. Specifically the number 8 is used to say "lots" in buddhism.

From http://gogen-allguide.com/u/usohappyaku.html
Apparently it was just a number the peeps of old used to describe "Absolutely loads of". According to the site, there are other phrases that also use 800 in a similar way. Specifically the number 8 is used to say "lots" in buddhism.

Just from chinese, 八, bā, 8 is considered an auspicious and lucky number, and has more significance than 1000 - at least in Chinese culture. Things related to buddhism should overlap between the two countries though.

Just from living here, people pay extra to live on the 8th floor of a building, and phone companies can charge a premium for 'auspicious' mobile numbers with lots of 8s in them. Conversely, in China 4 is considered unlucky, as 4, 四, sì, sounds similar to 死, si, which means death.